Adjustable safety razor

ABSTRACT

The specific disclosure provides an adjustable safety razor having a guard structure hinged to a blade seat member, and a manually operable cam pivotally mounted on the blade seat member and extending into a channel in the guard structure for moving the guard structure about an axis defined by the hinging means.

United States Patent [191 Bowman et al.

[4 Oct. 7, 1975 ADJUSTABLE SAFETY RAZOR [75] Inventors: Peter Bowman, Sandy Hook; Ernest F. Kiraly, Fairfield, both of Conn.

[73] Assignee: Warner-Lambert Company, Morris Plains, NJ.

[22] Filed: May 3, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 466,599

[52] US. Cl. 30/47; 30/57; 30/77 [51] Int. Cl. B26B 21/06; B26B 21/14 [58] Field of Search 30/50, 54, 60, 60.5, 61,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Muros 30/60.5

1| llllllinillll 3,080,651 3/1963 LaCas 30/61 3,783,507 l/l974 Perry 30/77 X 3,816,916 6/1974 Kuhnl 30/63 X Primary Examiner-Al Lawrence Smith Assistant ExaminerGary L. Smith Attorney, Agent, or Firm-James F. Powers, Jr.; Albert H. Graddis 5 7 ABSTRACT The specific disclosure provides an adjustable safety razor having a guard structure hinged to a blade seat member, and a manually operable cam pivotally mounted on the blade seat member and extending into a channel in the guard structure for moving the guard structure about an axis defined by the hinging means.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures US. Patent Oct. 7,1975 3,909,941

, Edge 4 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to safetyrazors of the type in which a guard structure is manually adjustable to vary the shaving parameters of the razor. The invention is particularlysuitable for safety razors of the'type having at least one blade permanently bonded in a replaceable plastic cartridge, or of thedisposable' type formed at least in-part'of plastic.

Safetyrazors having means for adjusting guard structure with respect to blade cutting"edge'(s). are well known in the art. For example,'U.S. Pat. No. 3,375,578 discloses an adjustable band razor cartridge, U.S. 'Pat. No. 3,358,368 provides an adjustable double edge razor and US. Pat. No. 3,203,093 shows an adjustable single edge razor. Movement-of the guard structure acts to vary shaving parameters'such as shav'e'or tan gent angle, exposure and span. Shave angle is measured between the median plane of a blade and a plane extending from the cutting edge of the blade tangent to the skin-engaging surfaces in front of the blade. Exposure is the distance from the cutting edge to a plane tangent to the skin-engaging surfaces disposed in front of and behind the cutting edge. Span is the distance between the cutting edge and the skin-engaging surface in front of the cutting edge.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a relatively uncomplex means for adjusting a guard structure with respect to blade cutting edge(s), such that manufacturing and assembly costs are minimized.

In accordance with the present invention there is provided an adjustable safety razor comprising a blade seat member, at least one blade positioned on the blade seat member, and a guard structure. Means are provided for hinging the guard structure to the blade seat member, and the hinging means defines an axis parallel to the guard structure. A linear channel is formed in the guard structure, and manually operable means is pivotally mounted on the blade seat member and extends into the channel for moving the guard structure about the hinging means axis.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a twin blade cartridge embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the cartridge; and

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of means for adjusting a guard structure of the cartridge.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS The specific embodiment shown in the Figures is a replaceable twin blade cartridge of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,783,510 and 3,785,051, and in pending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 433,030, filed Jan. 14, 1974., by F. A. Ferraro for Razor Blade Cartridge and assigned to the assignee of the present application. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,783,510 and 3,785,051, and patent Application Ser. No. 433,030, filed Jan. 14, 1974 are incorporated herein by reference.

With reference to the Figures, the cartridge 10 includes a plastic cap member 12 and a plastic blade seat member 14. A pair of single cutting edge blades 16, 18 vertically separated by a spacer member 20 are permenantly bonded between the cap member 12 and the blade seat member 14. As shown in FIG. 2, the cutting edges 22, 24 are tande'r nly'arranged with respect to a guard structure 26.

The cap member 12 has two pairs of downwardly'e'xtending posts 28, 2'9, 30, 3l.-The' posts 28-31 extend through a pair'of-slots 32 in the top blade 16,'respective holes 34in the spacer member 20, a pair 'of slots 36 in the bottom blade 18, and respective holes 38 in the blade seat member l4.The lower ends of the posts 28-31-are deformed not shown) to prevent removal of the posts through the blade seat holes 38 and'thereby I bond the components of the cartridge 10 together. The

posts 2 8-3I,the slots 32; 36 and the holes 34; 38 can be dimensioned and/or shaped to provide' an" interference fit and the cartridgecomponents "can be assembled as taught by patent application Ser. No. 433,030, filedJan. 14, 1974.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cartridge 10 has a T-shaped channel'45formed on a lower sideof the blade seat member 14 for sliding engagement with transverse supporting surfaces on a holder (not shown). A suitable holder for the cartridge 10, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,510. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,783.,510 and 3,785,051 disclose systems suitable for dispensing a plurality of the cartridges 10.

The guard structure 26 is spaced a slight distance from forward outer blade seat corners 41, 43, and is hinged to a forward wall 51 of the blade seat member 14 by spaced webs 40, 42. The guard structure 26 and the webs 40, 42 are molded integrally with the blade seat member 14, and the webs 40, 42 have reduced cross-section protions 44 at the forward blade seat wall 51. The reduced cross-section. protions 44 define a transverse hinging axis parallel to the guard structure 26, and the guard structure 26 is movable about the hinging axis.

A cylindrical post having a cap portion 62 of increased diameter is integrally molded with the blade seat member 14 between the forward blade seat wall 51 and the guard structure 26. A plastic cam member 64 is pivotally mounted on the wall 51 by forcing the cam member 64 upwardly between the guard structure 26 and the blade seat wall 51 to snap-lock an apertured portion 66 of the cam member 64 on the post 60. When thus mounted, the cam member 64 is pivoted about the post 60 as shown by arrows 68 in FIG. 1.

The cam member 64 has a forwardly extending portion 70 beneath the apertured portion 66, and an upwardly extending ball-shaped element 72 at the forward end of the forwardly extending portion 70. The ball-shaped element 72 is positioned in a channel 76 formed in the underside of the guard structure 26. As

shown in FIG. 3, the channel 76 is angularly disposed counter-clockwise direction as view in FIG. 1 will move the guard structure downwardly about the transverse hinging axis defined by the reduced cross-section portions of the webs 40, 42.

It is apparent that the present invention is suitable for use on disposable razors such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,765. The present invention also contem- 3 4 plates adjustment of single and double edge razors such with and interconnecting said blade seat member as shown in US. Pat. Nos. 3,203,093 and 3,358,368, and said guard structure, said webs defining a respectively. 7 transverse hinging axis parallel to said skin- What is claimed is: engaging surface, 1 1. An adjustable safety razor blade cartridge includf. a linear channel formed in an underside of said ing means for releasably engaging a holder, said carguard structure, said channel being nonparallelly tridge comprising: disposed with respect to said hinging axis, and

a. a plastic blade seat member, g. a manually operable cam mounted on said blade b. at least one blade positioned on said blade seat seat and movable about a forwardly directed axis, member, said at least one blade including a for- 10 said cam including a portion extending forwardly wardly extending cutting edge, to beneath said channel and another portion exc. a cap member above said at least one blade, said tending upwardly from said forwardly extending cap member being permanently connected to said portion into and permanently seated in said chanblade seat member to bond said at least one blade nel, movement of said cam about said forwardly dibetween said cap and blade seat members, rected axis adjusts the shaving position of said skind. a transversely elongated plastic guard structure engaging surface with respect to the cutting edge. having a skin-engaging surface parallelly spaced 2. The cartridge of claim 1 wherein said webs have forwardly of the cutting edge, a reduced cross-sectional portion. e. a plurality of flexible plastic webs integrally formed 

1. An adjustable safety razor blade cartridge including means for releasably engaging a holder, said cartridge comprising: a. a plastic blade seat member, b. at leasT one blade positioned on said blade seat member, said at least one blade including a forwardly extending cutting edge, c. a cap member above said at least one blade, said cap member being permanently connected to said blade seat member to bond said at least one blade between said cap and blade seat members, d. a transversely elongated plastic guard structure having a skin-engaging surface parallelly spaced forwardly of the cutting edge, e. a plurality of flexible plastic webs integrally formed with and interconnecting said blade seat member and said guard structure, said webs defining a transverse hinging axis parallel to said skin-engaging surface, f. a linear channel formed in an underside of said guard structure, said channel being nonparallelly disposed with respect to said hinging axis, and g. a manually operable cam mounted on said blade seat and movable about a forwardly directed axis, said cam including a portion extending forwardly to beneath said channel and another portion extending upwardly from said forwardly extending portion into and permanently seated in said channel, movement of said cam about said forwardly directed axis adjusts the shaving position of said skin-engaging surface with respect to the cutting edge.
 2. The cartridge of claim 1 wherein said webs have a reduced cross-sectional portion. 